Afternoon at the Beauty Parlor

Today Ronda Beyer visited me, and I was ready with quilts draped all around the house. The living room was decked out with a bunch of my New York Beauty / Rocky Mountain Road / or whatever-you-want-to-call-them quilts, and I said to Ronda, "I bet you didn't realize I was taking you to the beauty parlor today." By the way, Ronda didn't need to go to an actual beauty parlor - she looked like a model - what a beautiful lady! Still, the quilts were the center of attention.

Ronda arrived a minute or two before I got back from the market. I needed to get a carton of milk, just in case we had coffee. She brought be a beautiful Christmas tree shaped Rosemary plant (thank you, Ronda!), and I greeted her with quilts in the entry way. She definitely has a good eye for quilts, and made a beeline to the bannister separating the dining room from the living room, where five of my "best-of-kind" quilts were hanging. 

We admired the wonderful hand quilting, and I told stories about collecting and what I've learned along the way. We walked to the guest room and looked at the colorful Lucy Mingo quilt from Gee's Bend, which lit up a mostly monochromatic room. Eventually, we made our way upstairs where the star of the show - the 1850 Album with Lyre Medallion - was hanging on a quilt rack in the loft. Even though Ronda admitted she wasn't the biggest fan of machine echo quilting, she was most impressed with the echo hand quilting on the Album quilt. It is truly mind-boggling.

We found ourselves in the master bedroom - not what you think - again, it was all about the quilts! There, I had some of the oldest quilts in my collection - also among the oldest quilts here in Oregon - and some other very interesting examples. I think we looked at thirty or forty quilts throughout the house. One of her favorites was a surprise to me. It was a rescue quilt from the 1830's, made in Tennessee. Even though the quilt is in very rough condition, we were both struck by its charm. She said she'd like to recreate it some day, and that I'd love to see! I think she'd do an amazing job.

We ended up in the kitchen, and shared stories about our experiences and some of the people we've met in the world of quilts, and soon she was on her way. I had a great time, and it was really the first time I'd had quilts on display all around the house, over the furniture, on walls, and on beds. It reminded me of the first quilt showing I attended more than 20 years ago, when I met Shelly Zegart. That day, Shelly had quilts displayed all over the furniture. It was nice to take a page out of her book.

I think I'll keep the quilts out for a few more days. They make me happy, and it'll give me good reason to invite more friends over for a repeat performance.